Build a Better Brief

How brand managers can get more effective campaigns from their creative partners

You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out.

It’s extra true at the start of a marketing project. If you don’t get “the brief” right, you waste time, money and end up with the aforementioned “garbage.”

There are approximately 438 million articles out there about “good creative briefs.” (Seriously, I just did a Google search.)

Then why do we all still run into bad briefs all the time?

I think there are 5 things that define a good brief:

1. It’s brief (one page!)
2. Scope is clear (including budget)
3. Defines the desired outcome
4. Has a clear strategy
5. Includes a schedule

But these things don’t just magically happen.

At this point in my career, I believe that if we don’t help our clients get the brief right, there’s no point moving on to creative development.

READ “5 Things That Make a Good Creative Brief”

Good Brief vs. Bad Brief

One big question to resolve up front: How “open” is the creative brief?

So much time and money is wasted when brand managers say “give us blue sky thinking” when they really have a very specific need…and budget.

Be honest. Constraints are good. Guardrails focus creative thinking.

Be clear about WHAT you’re trying to achieve.

If you have channel and budget in mind, tell us.

But try and avoid being too prescriptive about the HOW.

Bad brief: We’re looking for ideas to improve brand perception.

Good brief: We’re looking for Q1 social-first ideas that have the potential to generate earned media attention for the brand. (Ultimately, we’re trying to move our unaided awareness number from X to Y.) We have $X for the campaign.

Bad brief: Develop an ad that includes these three reasons to believe.

Good brief: We want to lower our customer acquisition cost; we think a targeted LinkedIn campaign is a way to get more qualified leads into our pipeline. What are some creative ways to approach it, with a budget of $X in mind?

Bad brief: We want our first brand campaign.

Good brief: 95% of our current spend is on product-focused direct response. We want to dip our toe into brand advertising, but aren’t sure how to balance our growth marketing and brand advertising goals. What’s a better, more creative way to think about a marketing spend of $X to achieve both goals?

Ask a better question, get a better answer.

If you focus the ask — but allow some creative freedom on how the problem gets solved — you will get a better campaign.

What To Include

These are the questions we ask to help clarify the brief:

* What are you hoping to achieve with the campaign?

* What are you going to measure to determine whether the campaign was successful or not?

* When do you need it in market?

* In what media channels will it appear? (Have you already purchased the media or are you open to suggestions as to the best media plan?)

* How much $ do you have to produce the campaign asset?

* Is there a defined strategy for your brand and/or advertising? (Target, brand promise, campaign platform, tagline, mnemonics, etc.)

* Are there any “mandatories” for what should be included in the ad? (How open are you to us making the case that they may or may not be “mandatory” to achieve your objective?)

And try and get them to keep their answers to one page, total!

NEED HELP? We help brands craft a better brief as part of our Creative Campaign Accelerator

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Kovacevich is a creative director and the founder of Agency SOS. He writes a weekly newsletter with three bits of creative inspiration for modern marketers. (You should subscribe; it’s good.)